Lung Cancer Symptoms – What is Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancerous deaths. Most people diagnosed with it die within one year of diagnosis. Cigarette smoking is the leading etiology. At the time of diagnosis, distant metastasis is common. Most primary lung tumors are bronchogenic or of the airway epithelium. Small-cell carcinomas grow rapidly and invade tissue early while non-small-cell carcinomas are less rapid and invasive. Regardless, bronchogenic cancers tend to be aggressive, locally invasive, and have widespread metastatic lesions. Usual metastases grow in the brain, bone, or liver via lymph channels. Superior Vena Cava Syndrome occurs when the enlarged tumors obstruct the superior vena cava.
Up to a quarter of people with lung cancer may not experience symptoms when it is diagnosed. Lung cancer is usually identified incidentally when chest x-rays are preformed for other reasons. Majority of patients, however, experience symptoms. These are cause by the effects of the primary tumor, effects of metastatic tumors in other body parts, or disturbance of hormones, blood or other systems caused by the disease.
There are common lung cancer symptoms that aid to the detection of lung cancer.
One of the lung cancer symptoms is chronic cough and hemoptysis. Unusual coughing for smokers or former smokers should raise concern for the possibility of developing the disease. Cough that does not go away or gets worse over time should be evaluated by a physician. Hemoptysis or coughing up of blood is experienced by a significant number of patients diagnosed with lung cancer. Any amount of blood coughed up must be given immediate attention.
Wheezing and shortness of breath both result from airway obstruction. Wheezing or hoarseness may signal blockage or inflammation in the lungs that may go together with lung cancer. Shortness of breath usually results from collection of fluid around the lung called pleural effusion. This may indicate spread of the tumor throughout the lungs.
Dull and aching chest pain results from metastases to the chest mediastinum with pleuritic pain occurring if the pleura are invaded. Chest pain happens to about one-fourth of patients with lung cancer. The pain is persistent and may involve other structures surrounding the lungs.
Hoarseness with dysphagia results from tumor pressure on the trachea or esophagus. Dysphagia refers to the symptom of difficulty in swallowing. Patients are sometimes unaware of their dysphagia.
Recurring respiratory infections can be signs of lung cancer. Examples are bronchitis and pneumonia. Bronchitis refers to inflammation of the mucous membranes of the bronchi which are airways carrying airflow from the trachea into the lungs. Pneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung frequently described as lung parenchyma or lung alveolar inflammation where the alveolar in the lungs is being filled with fluid.
Other lung cancer symptoms include systematic manifestations such as weight loss, anorexia, fatigue, weakness, skin rashes, degeneration of the brain, bone pain, bone tenderness, bone swelling, and clubbing of the fingers and toes. These are also called paraneoplastic syndromes which are remote. They have indirect effects of cancer that are not related to the direct invasion of an organ by the tumor cells. They are mostly caused by chemicals released from the cancers.
